BEYOND DAWN

It's not surprising that a compilation of efforts from the 1990s would sound very much of its time. So, with that out of the way, and keeping that thought firmly at the forefront, how does this retrospective stand up? Well, the vocals are somewhere between the typical Tom G Warrior impersonations we should expect of avant-garde bands of this era and the mournful moans of Vincent Cavanagh circa 'The Silent Enigma'. The good news here is the use of trombone. It's not a natural friend of metal, but works incredibly well, and could have been utilised more. The bad news, and one that blights a lot of avant-garde metal, is sometimes things just don't work. Some of the vocal styles for example are just awful. The playing too can be a bit sloppy (a bit like early black metal). The production is acceptable (typically Peaceville sounding), bearing in mind the age of some of this stuff (recorded between 1991 and 1994), and the fact that some of the source material was apparently found on tapes. Ultimately though, this is directionless and difficult to appreciate as anything other than a curious snapshot of a band ahead of its time; sounding dated now that time has caught up with them. There's stuff to enjoy, but not much to love. I feel bad slating this, as it's clearly a band wanting to show the world how underappreciated they were first time around. Just maybe, on this occasion, there was a reason for that.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Duplicate Records

Album

BYGONES

Review by Steve Cowan

RUNNING TIME:

46:34

RELEASE DATE:

August 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Cold
2) Moonwomb
3) Chaosphere
4) Clouds Swept Away the Colours
5) Strained, Down and Under
6) Bygone
7) Utopia
8) Glass Desert
9) The Sound of Wings
10) The Tempest

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Norway

"...clearly a band wanting to show the world how underappreciated they were first time around. Just maybe, on this occasion, there was a reason for that."